Investigation of In-Patient Prescribing Patterns of Oral Antidiabetic Drugs in a Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital

Abstract

Background: Type 2 diabetes is a chronic condition associated with abnormally high levels of glucose in the blood. Absence or insufficient production of insulin and/or defective actions of insulin causes diabetes. Diabetics are at a higher risk of polypharmacy and more vulnerable to irrational prescribing.

Methods: A non-interventional, prospective cross sectional study conducted at inpatient medicine department of K.S Hegde Charitable Hospital, Mangalore, India, with the objectives of collecting demographtc and disease details of diabetes patients, studying the pattern of oral hypoglycemic agents prescribed in type 2 diabetic patients and to assess the awarness of patients about diabetes , its medication and lifestyle modifications. A prospective study was carried out over a period of five months in medicine in-patient department.

Results: A suitable data collection form was prepared and used to collect the required data. The knowledge of the patients was assessed by using a questionnaire. About 120 patients were recruited for the study. Among the study population 57.5% (69) were males. The majority of patients (48%) were in the age group of 41-60 years. About 49.2% of the patients have a history of diabetes less than 5 years.

Conclusion: Metformin and glimepride was the most common drug used among the various oral antidiabetics prescribed. The present study found that majority of patients had knowledge about diabetes.

Keywords: Diabetes, Oral antidiabetic agents, prescribing patterns, metformin, knowledge